Warning: Contains spoilers for RDR and Undertale obviously.
Beneath the Mountain
Chapter 1: An Average Hunting Trip
It'd been a few months since I'd watched Edgar Ross's body hit the ground.
Life had returned to normal, or at least something resembling it.
I'd been pretty busy since then, making a couple of renovations and retrofits to my father's ranch and even buying an automobile.
Although I took good care of the ranch and kept it in shape, I dreaded being there. Ever since mama passed on, it never felt the same. Instead of feeling warm and homey like it used to, it just felt cold and empty, devoid of life and joy.
I kept myself out of trouble, making money off of the ranch, doing a few odd jobs here and there, and hunting. I did a lot of hunting in those days. Kept me occupied, gave me some extra money, and kept my mind off of the perpetual loneliness that now permeated my life.
It started out just as any other hunting trip. I got up, mounted my horse, and rode off before sunup. I was headed toward this possible new hunting spot only a few clicks north of Cochinay, a particular mountain known as Mount Ebott.
Most people wouldn't set foot anywhere near that place because of all the legends and old wive's tales surrounding it. Since everybody was too scared to hunt near it, I figured there must've been plenty of big game for the taking up there.
I rode my horse down the trail through the tall trees. Not before too long, the thumping of hooves on dirt became the crunching of freshly fallen snow, and the already chilly October air grew considerably colder. Pulling my scarf over my face, I made sure my coat was belted up as I rode through the snow while keeping a lookout for any bears, wolves, or mountain lions.
The light of morning began to pierce the neverending dark of night and soon enough, golden rays of sunshine began to peer through the trees, illuminating the distant mountain.
I'd heard all sorts of stories and tall tales about Mt. Ebott ever since I was a kid. The common theme through all these was anybody who climbed the mountain never came back. The reason why they never returned is what those stories tried to explain. The one that made most sense was that they simply perished from the cold or were killed by wild animals, but they just got crazier. Ranging from a gang hideout, to the mountain being haunted, and even a tribe of cannibalistic Indians inhabiting the area around the mountain.
The craziest one I'd heard by far was told to me by some old codger while sitting around a campfire one night. He told of some ancient race of monstrous creatures that had been banished and sealed under the mountain centuries ago, and anyone unlucky enough to end up in their domain would be torn apart and eaten by the hordes of monstrosities that now dwelled beneath the mountain.
Of course, I disregarded those stories as fiction and I rode closer and closer, my mind focused more on the elk and deer that were probably up there instead of a bunch of old tall tales made to scare children. Hell, maybe I could've even tagged a bear since they were known to prowl around that area, they paid mighty handsomely for a good quality bear pelt at Manzanita Post.
I rode by the long-destroyed gates of Cochinay, cascaded around the mountains, and before I knew it, I had arrived. As expected, it was too snowy and steep for my horse, so I dismounted and grabbed my rifle and the gear I needed. After hitching my horse to an old tree and making sure it was in a safe place, I began my trek up the mountain.
After about an hour or so of climbing and trying to keep myself from freezing to death, I got to a small plateau that looked like a great place to take a break and set up camp. I sat down and looked at the early morning sun from my spot, deciding to rest my feet for a little while.
I stayed there for a moment, watching the sunrise and drinking some coffee I had stored in a flask to warm up. Satisfied, I got up and looked around, noting how the plateau would serve as the perfect vantage point, when suddenly, something caught my eye. I had my back turned to it and just now noticed what seemed to be a cave. Curious, I walked up to it, my rifle drawn just in case a bear was inside waiting to greet me. Luckily there was no bear. Actually, there wasn't even a cave, but a large rocky maw with a pit in the middle that led straight into the earth. Stupidly, I got closer and looked down inside the pit.
Darkness.
All I saw was darkness.
I didn't know how deep it went, but I guessed that if I fell, I wouldn't be getting back up.
Suddenly, I remembered the story that old man told me and began to imagine hungry hordes of ghastly horrors just below the veil of darkness, waiting for me to slip and fall so I could wind up as their next meal.
I shuddered at this thought and stepped away a little too quickly, the sudden movement must've disturbed the ground or something because the next thing I heard was a crack crack crackle from under my feet.
"Oh goddam-" was all I got out before the ground gave out from under me and I plummeted into the darkness.
To this day, I still wonder exactly why I fell. Well yeah, I fell because I got too close to that pit and disturbed the ground, but that's not what I'm talking about. I mean why did I fall? Was it simply just dumb luck, an idiotic move on my part, or was it fate? Some prophetical path chosen for me by some higher power beyond my control. I guess it doesn't really matter, but still, considering the events that followed and the impact it had, well I can't help but wonder.
I don't remember the fall down, and I don't remember landing. I must've blacked out during the fall, because the only thing I remember was waking up. No, getting woken up. It was a faint voice that slowly grew louder "Mister... Wake up.. Please..." The voice sounded worried and frantic, and I felt that somebody was shaking me. "Please mister, Wake up!"
I obeyed.
I opened my eyes and sat up, making some sort of groan that would've been funny if it weren't for the circumstances. Examining my surroundings, I discovered I was in a cave, on a bed of some kind of golden flowers, my hat was missing and so was my rifle.
I felt for my sidearm and to my relief, it was still in it's holster. I looked up, seeing rays of light coming from the hole I had fallen from. I wasn't exactly sure how far I'd fallen, but I knew for certain that I should not have survived that fall, much less without any noticeable injuries.
How the hell am I not dead? I examined one of the strange golden flowers that I now found myself sitting on. The flowers themselves were a kind I'd never seen before. They looked like a cross between a golden currant and a prairie poppy, yet somehow still different. I wondered if these flowers had somehow broken my fall, but the idea that a patch of flowers broke a fall like that didn't exactly resonate with me.
Suddenly I remembered the voice that woke me up, and I turned to the side I remember hearing it come from.
It was... a kid.
That's right, just a kid. She looked about 10 or so, and had a mop of brown hair, some sort of purple striped sweater, and a fading look of worry and relief plastered on her face.
"Thank god... I thought you were..." She said in between breaths.
I wanted to address the kid, assure her I was fine, but my mind drew blanks. Instead, almost automatically, I asked "Where... Where am I?"
"I don't know... I fell down a hole in the mountainside and only a few seconds after I landed you fell too, but... you wouldn't wake up."
What the hell? I thought. I was sitting on that plateau for at least a good 30 minutes, how did I not see or hear her?
Whatever, it didn't matter. We were both stuck in a cave and we had to find a way out.
"Well, I'm up now." I said in a humorous but reassuring tone, which calmer her down considerably.
I got to my feet, making sure nothing was dislocated or broken, and outstretched my hand. The kid took it and I pulled her to her feet.
"Thank you, uhh... What's your name, mister?" The kid asked.
"Jack. Jack Marston."
"I'm Frisk... Just Frisk. It's good to meet you."
"Likewise." I said while wondering who the hell names their child Frisk.
"So... How are we going to get out of here?"
I looked up at the hole we both fell through. "Well, unless one of us can fly, I don't think we'll be going that way."
"I guess we'll have to move forward then." She said, looking towards a path I hadn't noticed until now.
"Seems promising enough. Come on, let's get out of here." I began walking towards the pathway, waiting for her to catch up.
"Wait." She came up to me, holding the hat that had once belonged to my father. "I think you'll be needing this."
I realized that out of all things, I forgot to look for my hat. I took the hat and placed it on my head, thanking her in the process. She responded with a wide toothy grin that made me chuckle a bit, which slightly loosened the tension of being trapped in a cave under a remote mountain.
My rifle was still nowhere to be found, but I had neither the time nor patience to look for it. The fall probably damaged it anyway I thought. My sidearm would have to do for now.
I began walking down the corridor, my new compadre at my side. It was eerily quiet, save for our footsteps and the familiar jingle of my spurs, which reverberated off of the low, rocky ceiling. The corridor ended at this ornately carved ancient-looking archway with columns and a strange crest at the top that seemed to be carved into the rock itself.
The best way I can describe it was a circle with a couple of wings beside it positioned over three triangles, the one in the middle upside down. A thousand questions that could not be answered flooded into my mind concerning this strange, clearly manmade arch, but I knew one thing for certain.
We weren't the first ones down here.
The kid and I looked at each other.
"After you." she said.
Reluctantly, I walked through the archway and was greeted with darkness, only broken by a sliver of light that shined down on a circular patch of grass and a... flower?
No, this wasn't any normal flower, the thing had a face. A cartoonish looking smiling face in it's center. And if that wasn't unsettling enough, it spoke.
"Howdy!" it said, speaking in some high-pitched bastardization of what I assumed was supposed to be a southern accent. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"
What the hell. There aren't enough words in the English language to described how jarred and confused I was at that very moment.
I looked to the kid and to my horror, I could tell she was seeing exactly what I was.
So I'm not hallucinating. Great.
"Hmm... You're new to the underground, aren'tcha?"
I guess the flower must've been waiting for a reply, but my mind wasn't in the position to even muster one.
The flower continued anyway. "Golly! You must be so confused. Somebody oughta teach you how things work down here."
I was understandably very put off by this flower... thing. Ignoring the fact that it was a fucking talking flower, I knew something was up. Didn't take a detective to figure out that its cutesy and friendly demeanor was nothing more than a facade. Question was, what were it's true intentions? Whatever they were, I was pretty sure they weren't good. I made sure my hand was close to my sidearm and let the flower continue his spiel.
"I guess little 'ol me will have to do. Ready?"
For what. I almost asked.
"Here we go!"
I began to feel this intense tugging sensation coming from my chest and everything suddenly went black, aside from two glowing heart-shaped objects in front of us.
"See those hearts? Those are your SOULs, the very culmination of your being."
I tried moving mine around, and the bright yellow one responded. Must be mine. The other heart was colored a deep shade of crimson, which I assumed belonged to the kid.
Great, so souls are apparently real now. Anything else I need to know, flowerboy?
Almost as if answering my question, "Your SOULs start off weak, but they can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. What does LV stand for you may ask? Why LOVE of course! Hmm... I see you already have some LV, don'tcha mister?"
Huh?
"But, I think a little bit extra wouldn't hurt. Here, you can have some of mine!"
I finally spoke up. "Yeah, I appreciate the offer flowerboy, but I think we'll be fine without any of your... "love"". I noticed a pang of frustration in it's unnatural face, that threatened to break through that mask of friendliness.
"Nonsense buddy! Here, have some!" Before I could protest, these white seed-looking things appeared above it. "Down here, LOVE is shared through these... Little white... "Friendliness pellets!" Saying the last phrase like it'd just discovered how to make a pig fly. "Are you ready?" Suddenly, the "friendliness pellets" began flying towards us. "Move around! Catch as many as you can!"
The kid and I glanced at each other, seemingly having the mutual idea to avoid it's "friendliness pellets". The pellets began to gather in our direction and we both took a step to the side, dodging them.
It's face morphed into a slightly annoyed look. "Hey buddy, don't you know it's rude to reject a gift? Lets try again, okay?"
More pellets sailed toward us and we repeated the action.
The flower became increasingly frustrated and angered by this. "Stop being such hardasses already. RUN. INTO. THE. BUL- ahem Friendliness pellets!"
By now, It was blatantly obvious that this thing was trying to kill us. More of those bullets sailed towards us and again, we dodged them.
The flower's mask of friendliness and faux cute voice were completely gone now. Replaced with a twisted, evil grin and a gravely, demonic voice.
"Heh. You know what's going on here, don't you?"
For Toriel, it was just an average day. After picking up a few odds and ends, she went along her usual walk through the ruins, checking to see if another child had fallen.
It had been some time since the last child fell. Toriel wasn't sure exactly how long it had been, as it had never been easy to tell time in the underground to begin with. Of course, being god-knows-how-many centuries old didn't exactly help with her perception of time either.
She was on her way towards the end of the ruins when suddenly a loud BANG came from the direction she was heading in.
Confused, she halted and listened. "What in the worl-" she said before being interrupted by another BANG.
Toriel quickened her pace, soon enough she was running and passed through the the entrance to the ruins, arriving at the archway leading to the first room.
"Is he gone?" asked a soft, high-pitched voice, clearly a child's. "Looks like it, hopefully he'll stay gone." said the gruff, deeper voice of a man with a slight western twang. Curious, Toriel poked her head inside and was shocked at what she saw.
Two humans.
Like the others before, the first one was a child. The second one however, was different. He was a scruffy-looking young man, the likes of whom had never entered the underground before, at least as far as she knew.
This young man however, looked very familiar to her. His hat, his accent, his gun, and his choice of fashion. It reminded her of...
Another she tried to save.
Another who wouldn't listen.
Another she allowed to die.
She almost thought this newcomer was in fact the last human she'd lost so long ago, but in her heart she knew better. She knew he had fallen to Asgore's trident like the rest.
She wasn't sure what had them spooked, but whatever it was appeared to be gone.
Deciding that now would be a good time to introduce herself and making a move, she hesitantly moved forward, walking through the archway and preparing to make a first impression to the newly-fallen humans.
Before she could open her mouth however, she heard a tiny gasp coming from the child, and in less than a second, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun.
For the record, trying to shoot a flower isn't easy.
Especially when it's some weird demon flower that can move on it's own.
I couldn't go into dead eye either, guess the fall must've drained it.
As soon as that flower dropped the whole best friend act and showed it's true face, I drew my sidearm and fired. Of course I missed it, hitting the ground in front of it instead, however it seemed to catch the flower off guard.
"Hey! what the-" It yelped in surprise.
Taking my chance, I chambered another round and fired, unfortunately missing again.
"Ah, screw this!" the flower yelled, clearly spooked. The flower hightailed it, retreating into the ground while the two little hearts retreated back into us.
"Hey kid, you alright?" I asked, checking on her. From the looks of it she was a little shaken up, but other than that she seemed to be fine.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My ears are ringing though." she replied.
I couldn't blame her, mine were too. Firing a gun is loud enough, but when you're in a small cave like this, it's considerably worse.
I patted her on the head. "It's alright, mine are too. Don't worry, it'll go away in a minute."
The kid looked around and said "Is he gone now?"
"Looks like it. Hopefully he'll stay gone."
We both stayed silent for about a minute, both making sure we were alright, as well as processing the fact that a talking flower just tried to kill us.
I began hearing what sounded like muffled footsteps coming from behind. Great. We're not alone I thought. This was confirmed a couple of seconds later when I heard the kid gasp.
I wheeled around with my sidearm drawn, preparing to shoot whoever or whatever had entered the room. To my horror, my eyes were met with... well, a monster.
It was a tall bipedal goat creature, with these large floppy ears, deep rust-red eyes, and a purple robe with the same crest as was on the arch. The old coot's story flooded back into my mind. Only this time it wasn't just some old tall tale anymore, the thing that stood before us was proof enough that it was real.
"You stay the hell back!" I warned, tightening my grip on the pistol and making sure the kid was behind me. "I ain't gonna let you hurt us."
"My child, please, I do not intend to harm any of you. Please, just... lower your weapon. Lets talk." The monstrosity pleaded.
Admittedly I did lower my weapon, if not out of shock. I'd expected her voice to be a bit more... fearsome. Instead, she spoke in a soft, motherly voice that sounded more akin to a grandmother baking a cherry pie on a sunday afternoon. Hell, for all I knew this could've been a farce. A clever disguise intended to get me to let my guard down. But, I guess that wasn't the case.
After holstering my sidearm, we just stood there for a while before the monster broke the silence.
"I believe we have gotten off the wrong foot. Here, allow me to introduce myself. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. I pass through here every day to see if anyone has fallen."
I guess I must've felt obligated to introduce myself in return, because that's just what I did. "Jack. Jack Marston."
The kid came out from behind me and Toriel knelt down to her level. "Ah, do not be afraid, my child." Offering a furred hand to the kid. "And what is your name, little one?"
She hesitated for a moment before finally taking her hand and saying "Frisk. My name is Frisk."
"Ah, that is a lovely name, my child." Toriel tousled the kid's hair, causing her to giggle, which put me more at ease. She stood up, and turned to address us.
"You two are the first humans to have come here in a very long time." She then looked directly at me. "And you. I believe you are the first human of your age to have ever fallen down here."
"I feel honored." I replied, intending to be a sarcastic remark, but just coming out dry.
Nevertheless, Toriel smiled a warm loving smile that only a mother can give. Something I hadn't seen in what felt like ages.
"I believe it is time for me to show you two around. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."
She beckoned for us to follow and began walking the way she came, going through a stone archway reminiscent of the one we had passed through earlier.
"Are we really going to follow her?" I asked.
"I don't think we have much of a choice." The kid replied.
As much as I didn't want to admit it, she was right. Only chance we had of getting out of whatever the hell kind of Alice in Wonderland place we were in was by following her.
I began making my way forward, the kid right behind me.
After going through the familiar arch, I was greeted with a sight that I didn't expect. We were at the entrance of some ancient-looking subterranean city built out of some kind of purple brick. Even had an ornately carved grand staircase at the front. Around the stairs were these little red things, I picked one up and crushed it in my hand.
A leaf?
I was confounded by this because there wasn't a tree in sight. The kid was less distracted than I was, staying behind Toriel and only pausing at the pile of leaves between the stairs to reach up and touch something that either I couldn't see, or wasn't there to begin with.
"Frisk, what are you doing?"
"I'm saving our progress."
"Saving our prog- the hell are you talking about?"
"This yellow glowing star thing, don't you see it?"
"Kid, the only thing I see is air."
"Hmm..."
"Nevermind. Come on, let's go catch up."
She nodded and we both walked up the staircase and into a room at the top where Toriel was waiting.
"Welcome to your new home. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins."
New home? I don't like where this is going, I thought. But I kept my apprehensions at bay, and just watched whatever Toriel was up to.
She walked across some circular pressure plates on the right side of the room and pulled a lever on the wall, causing the door behind her to open.
"The Ruins are full of puzzles, ancient fusions between diversion and doorkey. One must solve them in order to move from room to room. Please adjust yourselves to the sight of them."
Wacky doorkeys, got it.
She walked ahead through the door and I followed, pausing to read a sign on the left.
Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not in the middle road.
I jokingly thought that I must've been the latter as I walked into the next room where Toriel was waiting to explain the next puzzle.
"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Worry not, for I have labeled the ones that you will need to flip."
She walked to the end of the corridor where the door was blocked by spikes. Frisk read a sign that was in front of us, and I looked at it as well.
Press [z] to read signs!
O-kay? I walked over to another sign, this one being a carved stone sign that was planted into the wall itself.
Stay on the path.
"Well fuck you too, buddy." I muttered under my breath, low enough for the kid to not hear.
The kid and I began walking towards the end, where Toriel waited expectantly. There were a few switches along the wall, two of which had yellow arrows marked around them.
"Jack?" the kid called out.
"Yeah?"
"I'll get the switch closest to us, you get that one near the door."
"You got it boss." I replied jokingly.
I went over to the switch with the yellow arrows marked around it, and read the note marked by the switch.
Please press this switch too. -Toriel
"Alright, ready?" I said. The kid placed her hand on the switch and nodded. We both flipped them simultaneously and a large THUNK! could be heard.
"Splendid!" Toriel said. "I am proud of you both. Let us move to the next room."
Toriel walked over the now retracted spikes and headed into the next room, as the kid caught up, I tried out the switch next to it for curiosity sakes, but it was stuck in place, if it ever worked to begin with. The kid caught up and we both went into the next room, this one was smaller than the others and was empty, save for what looked to be a homemade dummy.
"As humans living in the underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation."
"Don't worry, I already am." I said while pulling back my coat, showing my holstered gun and sheathed bowie knife.
"Ah, I see you are." She said, with a slightly nervous tone. "But, there are other, less violent ways to resolve a conflict."
"Really now? Enlighten me."
"The process is simple, just strike up a friendly conversation. Stall them. I will come to resolve the conflict."
"That's it?"
"Yes! Here, try it out on that dummy over there."
I walked over to the dummy.
"Uh... Howdy?" I said.
...
"Nice weather we're having? or... not having," noticing the clear lack of weather.
...
"The dummy doesn't seem to be much for conversation." the kid said matter-of-factly.
"Looks like it." I said, stopping myself from sarcastically replying.
"Here, let me try something." The kid said sporting a mischievous look.
"Sure, go ahead."
The kid picked a stick off of the ground and assumed some sort of fighting stance. She looked like she was fixing to attack it, but just backed off and didn't. She repeated this action several times until the dummy just... rose up and flew away.
Toriel gave the kid probably the most intense "what the hell" expression I'd ever seen in my life, a look of which I shared.
"Anyways, the next room awaits." she said, disregarding what had just happened.
We followed her into the next room and began walking towards a winding corridor.
"There is another puzzle past this room... I wonder if you can solve it..."
We kept on walking, going into the corridor and winding through a bend when suddenly, something hopped right into our path.
"Hold up kid." I said while looking over the monster that resembled a frog. "The hell is that thing?"
"Apparently, it's called a Froggit." the kid replied.
I guess now would be a good time to put that method Toriel taught me to test.
Believe me when I say it, thinking of a compliment for some subterranean frog monster isn't exactly the easiest thing. I finally settled on "You're a good jumper, did you know that?"
It seemed to blush a little. "Froggit didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway." the kid narrated.
Toriel then came into the picture, and if looks could kill, that Froggit would've been fried frog legs. It hopped away, and we continued on down the corridor until we reached a floor made up of various spikes surrounded by water.
"This is the puzzle, but..." She extended her hand towards the kid. "Here, child. Take my hand for a moment." Toriel took Frisk's hand and began walking towards a certain part of the spikes. "Jack. Please stay close behind us."
I obliged, and followed them into a certain part of the spikes, which began to retract. After maneuvering through the spikes, we made it to the other side of the chamber.
"Puzzles seem to be a little too dangerous for now." She stated as we entered a very long corridor. "You two have done excellently thus far. However... I have a difficult request to ask of you."
The kid and I perked up and listened intently.
"I would like for you to walk to the end of the corridor by yourselves. Forgive me for this."
And just like that, she began walking away at a quick pace. The kid and I looked at eachother and I just shrugged.
So we walked.
And walked.
And walked.
And- Good god, how long was this corridor?
"Hey uh, Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you a cowboy?" the kid asked, a hint of childlike wonder in her voice.
"Cowboy?"
"Yeah! The hat, the gun, the accent, the way you're dressed. You look like a cowboy."
I thought about it. Actual cowboys hadn't been a thing for years outside of rodeo shows. Hell, the whole "Wild West" thing like you'd see in the picture shows had been steadily going away since I was a kid if it even really existed in the first place. By 1914, it wasn't much more than a distant memory. Still, I didn't want to dash the kid's imagination or anything. Plus I was a rancher, so I guess that counts.
"Yep, you're exactly right. I am a cowboy."
"Awesome, I knew it!" She exclaimed.
Soon enough, we arrived at the end of the corridor where Toriel was waiting for us behind a stone pillar on the left.
"Greetings! Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me."
I simply nodded in response, the kid mimicked this action as well.
"However, there was an important reason for this exercise. To test your independence. I have some business to attend to, and you two must stay alone for a while. Please remain here, It's too dangerous to explore by yourselves. I have an idea, I will give you a cell phone."
"A what?" I replied
"This." She said, handing me this strange little doohickey. "If you need anything, just call."
What the fuck is this thing? I wondered, though I decided not to ask.
"Got it" I replied.
"Be good, alright?" and she walked away.
I sat down by the pillar and examined the strange piece of what might as well have been alien technology. The whole thing was made of this silvery, shiny metal. In the bottom center was a little keypad with the same buttons as a rotary phone, but arranged in a rectangular shape. Above it was a little square display that looked like a miniature movie screen but black with some green text on it, and there was an antenna sticking out of the top left that must've been used for picking up whatever the hell it ran on.
Obviously I knew what a telephone was, hell I even had one installed at my house. But this looked nothing like any telephone I'd ever seen before. The telephones I knew were wired and required you to hold a little speaker up to your ear and talk through a horn. This thing however, was much more advanced than any kind of technology I had ever seen, must've been at least 200 years ahead of us.
While messing around with it, I accidentally clicked a button and the phone automatically called someone, no operator or anything.
"This is Toriel." came the familiar voice of our guide from the opposite end.
"Oh... uh, hello."
"You only wanted to say hello? Well then, hello! I hope that will suffice, hee hee." *Click*
What.
After the incidental call ended, I noticed that Frisk was staring at me with a smirk.
"What?"
"You don't know how to use that, do you?"
I shook my head. "I don't."
"Here, let me hold onto that."
"What, do you know how to use this thing?"
"Yeah, sort of." She said, alluding to the idea that she apparently didn't come from the same place as I did.
"Alright, knock yourself out." I said, handing her the phone.
The kid pocketed it and we both sat there and waited. After a while, it became increasingly apparent that whatever Toriel was doing, she was taking her sweet time doing so.
"Well. This is boring." I stated flatly.
"Hmm..." The kid mused, looking at the exit. "Wanna go walk around in there?"
"You mean in the dangerous and foreboding ruins that Toriel explicitly told us not to enter by ourselves?"
"That's exactly what I mean."
"Absolutely."
A/N: I've been writing up this fic for a couple of months or so, and with the fairly recent release of Deltarune and RDR 2, I thought it'd be the perfect time to publish it.
One of my biggest inspirations for this story is Psychosis by Swimmingcop. It's a personal favorite of mine and is probably one of the best stories I've ever read. Just a heads up in case you notice any elements or phrasing that may be similar to the aforementioned fic. But yeah, I highly recommend you check it out.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated as I'm open to improvement.
See you next chapter.